26.05.2015 Post-2015 follow-up and review update
The intergovernmental negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda were held at the UN in New York on 18-22 May with a focus on follow-up and review of the agenda. Please continue reading below for a summary and key points from the intense week.
The zero draft of the final post-2015 outcome document tentatively will be released on 1 June.
The co-facilitators introduced 21 modified targets. The response from G77 and China (global South) was that they did not want the Open Working Group report to be reopened and thus did not support the tweaking of targets. Conversely, the global North generally supported the “strengthening” of the 21 targets and considered it as improving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
In NY we continue to push for the inclusion of civil society in the post-2015 development processes. Some countries are very positive about including civil society, while some are not as enthusiastic in this area.
National implementation is largely considered the most important aspect of follow-up and review, while global follow-up and review is viewed as a weaker component. Further, the principle of disaggregating data by disability appears to be accepted at the global level. However, unless data is disaggregated at the national level, it will be difficult to enforce this at regional or global levels.
At this point there is no agreement on the role of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). The HLPF as phrased today is not strong enough to handle the global monitoring and thus some Member States would like to strongly strengthen it while others would like the reverse. As persons with disabilities have a seat on the HLPF, it is very important that this becomes a strong and integral global mechanism for the post-2015 implementation.
On the last day of the negotiations the proposed themes for September’s Summit were attacked because of the reference to “vulnerable groups.” Egypt first, followed by many G77 supporters called to replace this term with “people living in vulnerable situations.” It was decided that only theme titles will be sent to the President of the General Assembly for the Summit, but Member States will receive the entire document (which includes persons with disabilities in an opening paragraph).
Persons with disabilities
Persons with disabilities received good visibility during the negotiations. This included Ms. Tiina Nummi-Södergren from MyRight who also was a member of the Swedish delegation to the UN on post-2015. She gave an impassioned presentation at a very well attended side event on civil society participation in the post-2015 process. In addition, Joseph Oye from Sightsavers Cameroon presented on behalf of persons with disabilities, the International Disability and Development Consortium and International Disability Alliance during the interactive dialogue with Major Groups and other Stakeholders. Click here to read his presentation. Throughout the week references to persons with disabilities came from:
- El Salvador
- Agnes Leina Ntikaampi, Illaramatak Community Concers, as part of Tebtebba Foundation (Major Gropus for Indigenous Peoples)
- Arpita Das, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, as part of Post-2015 Women’s Coalition
- Betty Wamala Mugabi, Beyond 2015 and World Vision East Africa Region
- Erlinda Capones, Director of the National Economic Development Authority of the Philippines
Thank you all!
Indicator framework update
The following points are from the post-2015 indicator framework update from John Pollinger, Chair of UN Statistical Commission (on 21 May):
- The IAEG-SDG group has been established to develop an indicator framework to monitor the post-2015 at the global level
- The group has a balanced and fair representation across the world and also has technical expertise
- The IAEG-SDG will meet for the first time 1-2 June in NY
- The IAEG-SDG consists of 28 representatives of national statistical offices, regional and international agencies
- The IAEG-SDG will conduct work in an open, inclusive and transparent manner and will invite civil society, academia and the private sector on relevant experiences on data
- The UNSD will have briefing sessions with civil society to engage in the process
- International organizations are asked to provide additional info, and civil society has been encouraged to provide input in the discussion
- The 1-2 June meeting will set up a process for the development framework, creating interlinkages across targets and agree on the way forward
- There will have to be larger investments for new data methodologies versus those already established
- There will be three tiers:
- Methodology already established and data exists
- Methodology already established, but data not available
- International methodology not yet developed
- Indicators must directly connect to goals and targets and not undermine, must cover all targets, even MOI, and give equal weight to all targets, and no new or contentious issues
- Global indicators should be limited and be multipurpose
- It will be challenging for national statistical systems, especially for developing and least developed countries
- There will be the establishment of a global database for the SDGs, similar to the MDGs indicators. This will be monitored by the UNSD in NY to make sure there are linkages between national statistics. This will be the backbone for national, regional and global reporting for all goals and targets, but not cutting across monitoring of national countries.
Additional information
Click here for the new Sustainable Development Goal Indicators website.
The first meeting of the Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDGs (IAEG-SDGs) will be held in New York from 1-2 June 2015. Click here for additional information. The meeting is expected to be webcast live at webtv.un.org.